


Xīn Xiágǔ Job

by LadyoftheMire



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Multi, Post Serenity, first time posting quite honestly, its exam week and writing this keeps me sane, mostly from River's perspective tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-15 08:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16930092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyoftheMire/pseuds/LadyoftheMire
Summary: Three years after "Serenity," the crew take on a new job and get more than they bargained.





	1. The Calm

_Xīn Xiágǔ, Newzona, Outer Moon of Tarhan_

The suns were high in a blistering sky creating more beds of dust and bush around the winding town of Xīn Xiágǔ. Its streets were alight with laughter and people hanging all sorts of things and strings from building to building. In a barely shadowed alley there a trade was placed with a stranger four and familiar trio wandered through the streets of Xīn Xiágǔ, smiling.

“Would you look at all those fairies they’re stringin’!” Kaylee exclaimed, pulling Simon from vendor to vendor in the heated streets of the dusty town. Behind them River smiled, watching Kaylee’s ‘brella twirl as they stared up at the preparations. She loved watching the happy couple almost as much as she loved to see the gurgling Emma, now hedging on three moon cycles, in her arms.

“What are they all for?” Simon asked, biting into a surprisingly fresh apple.

“Monsoon season.” River’s reply was sensible and in between comments of trade with the nearest weave merchant. “Comes every five to six cycles like a miracle they say, but it’s not a miracle, just a diffusion of water from the reservoir few hundred klicks away. Takes a while to get here. Should be tomorrow night.” She smiled back at her brother and the beaming Kaylee before handing Kaylee the newest role of fabric. She had plans for a whole new set for Emma.

“We’re just in time for the celebrations.” Kaylee admired the pattern, nodding her approval in River’s taste. “That is if our benevolent Captain allows us such pleasure.” She laughed. It had been a good long while since they had attended a nice shindig. The last Kaylee remembered was on one of her birthdays, last time they had been on the shinier planets with ‘Nara. They had gotten all fancy, even Zoe, and danced until the long hours of the morning.

“He will.” River smiled, kissing Emma’s head. The new one gurgled and hummed like a kitten.

“Will he now?” Reynolds raised a brow at his mighty crew, bedecked in new finery and fruits with the little spending they had. Zoe kissed her child on her laughing head and Jayne, still tetchy as ever with complacency, walked behind.

“Yes,” River firmly replied as the crew followed their pilot through the market. “He rightly will.” He looked down at his pilot and laughed. Even with a wee babe in her arms, the lady was a force to be reckoned with.

“YES!” Emma screamed in delight small hand grasping one of Reynolds’s suspenders. It was one of her favorites alongside ‘Mumma,’ and ‘No!’ The Captain looked between them and the hopeful Kaylee.

“Well, can’t much say no to the little one without being a downright villain.”

“The deal go down fine then, Capn’?” Kaylee grinned, pulling him along between the bustling streets. “Just fine, Mèimei, just fine.”

The crew wandered the streets for a few more hours, picking up what they needed and avoiding the trouble they didn’t want in the shaking bars. Kaylee was even able to spend on a brand new (and much needed) correlator for Serenity.

“And don’t be ‘specting a new one anytime in the next century,” Reynolds grumbled. However, his bitterness was nothing but wind. His crew was safe and wouldn’t go hungry for the time being. As Zoe said, enjoy the good times because they’re good, not because you’re sure bad will follow. River danced and rocked Emma, speaking to her in a jumble of languages both known and not. Zoe had noticed with pride that both had become right talkative and over half of what the pair said was coherent.

The suns began to sink through the peach sky and they turned their feet to the waiting rig. Jayne made a fuss out of not being able to attend a local Jìyuàn for a “quick visit,” but it was time to secure the goods and the boat. The rig shuddered and raised dust in a thick cloud before beginning to skim the dusky planets dry surface. Kaylee watched the dust rise as they sped toward Serenity parked out in the sand and rock beyond the cities limits, beneath her own coated boots. She stole a bite from Simon’s third apple and watched the sun’s descent. She leaned against Simon’s shoulder and he kissed her hair.

For the first time in months, she felt the tension in her shoulders melt away. “Just a real shiny day.”

✥

“T’was the night before the rain fell and all through the boat, no creature dared stir but an obstinate lil’one with her father’s tā mā de dà shēng insomnia,” Zoe grumbled, exhausted, as she held her daughter to her chest. Nights when Emma didn’t sleep were one of the only consistencies Zoe could trust in their lives. Well, one of three. She repeated them to herself each night as she tried to get the little one down. “One, I and all on this cursed boat will love you; two, my bullets will always fly straight; and three, you will never sleep when I ask. Even when you take turns draining our energy.”

Beneath them, Serenity hummed, creaked, and bumped. Emma drowsily rolled on the twisted sheets and spoke to herself, cooing with Serenity.

“You’re as much a part of this ship as any of us, you monster.” Zoe laughed, capturing the girl into her arms. The girl screeched and giggled, and eventually fell slowly into a calmer sleep as she rested in her mother’s arms. Zoe too soon found herself falling into an unsteady sleep. In the depths of the boat, Kaylee and Simon rested easily, warm and content. Jayne snored a top his only true love, Vera, and even Mal Reynolds, the war-torn, slept soundly after a job uninterrupted.

Only River wandered. She found sleep was only necessary for few hours, the rest of a night could be put toward the exploration and study of her crew and her home. Sometimes she hung suspended from the hoop hitched far above the cargo bay, other times she just sat in the pilot’s seat planning and mapping.

One night she had made a thousand cranes and hung them in the kitchen as a surprise for Simon. He had dared her she couldn’t do it when she was not-barely eight. It took a while but she got there, hands wrapped in a bandage from half-thousand paper cuts. When he saw them his whole face glowed up like...well like a firefly. The night before the rain she sat in the kitchen experimenting and humming. She could feel the vibrations of everyone's sleeping hearts.

“Coffee for a tired mind, tea for a loud one, milk for peace, and gin on ice for fun.” She sat on the dining floor surrounded by cups. “Needs work, each could be improved.” She sipped the gin and listened to the clouds before making a face. “This one especially.” Her ways were still occasionally odd to the others, but eventually, they see the method in her genius. She finished her perfecting just as Emma’s mind awoke and tapped her own.

“Good morning! Big day, mèimei.” She smiled setting the table before she danced to the Washburne room. She liked to give Zoe an extra hour these days, keep her sharp. With Emma in her arms, she swayed her way back to the kitchen. Emma Sunbeam, River liked to call her. Such a laughing happy child, reminding her of when she was a happy lil’ one too. She could feel the others stirring slowly in their bunks. Rising slowly like morning glories, Mother used to say. The Captain was the first to rise, stumbling from his quarters. He spotted her groggily. She looked so natural with Emma in her arms, acres older than the screaming, origami creature she’d been when they first met. She smiled brightly at him.

“Home isn’t a home without us, just like you can’t fly a ship without love.”

“Good morning to you too, Albatross.”

✥

Forty klic _ks South, Edge of the true canyon of Xīn Xiágǔ_

It is gagged gash through the countryside was deep and separated by great distance the major civilizations of the Newzona moon. Along the rind of the great canyon sat old mining warehouses, junker skimmers and rigs rusting in the dirt yards. Inside the buildings were almost equally as rusted and dust coated men. They ate what they had and looked over what they didn’t. One sat over a flickering screen looking at reports of incoming ships. It was the way of the rind.

Vultures living was the way on the rind, pick off the dead and see what could be sold. Sometimes the dead wasn’t so much dead, but they would be soon and if a kicker screams in the desert with no one to hear, are they really screaming? As two of the men squabbled over what seemed to be a chunk of marrow dripping bone, the screen-reader grinned three of his five teeth showing.

“Mucker, we got a report of a few shiny pieces!” He called across the warehouse. One of the other crossed the room, knocking apart the squabblers.

“What we got now, Jin?”

“Got a nice junker, somehow still flyin’. If we could stripper we’d be eatin’ plenty for months.”

“What kind is she?” Jin looked up at his captain happily.

“Old firefly class, just like that one we stripped few years ‘go.” Mucker leered back.

“Let’s catch ourselves a firebug!”

✥

The Captain had his ears keened for a new job, courtesy of the last deal gone well. Zoe and he would be in discussions for the next few hours as Kaylee tinkered and the others enjoyed the respite. Some, like Jayne and Emma slept, while Simon read and River wandered in the fresh air. She sat in the dust and sun, dangling her feet into the great fisher of the land. Far, far below she saw a clear stream sparkling under all the rock and sand. The land remembered the day it had been a raging, cutting river thousands of years before. She wondered if she could carve a canyon too.

“I sure liked the last job, the first time one has run this smooth in, hell ever, but something ‘bout this makes my teeth ache.” Zoe as she rocked Emma’s crib slowly.

“Mine too, but we ain’t been in no position to turn down jobs lately have we,” Mal replied quietly. He wasn’t one to hate children, but he didn’t much understand the use of meeting while she slept. Maybe it was Zoe’s way of keeping him calm toned. “I trust Don Shen, he’s made good on all his deals.” Mal nodded studying a small stuffed thing. Sposed to be a lion or a bear? He held it up questioningly.

“A Seal.” She took it from him and laid it down in the pod with Emma. “I know sir, but a scrap job? They always seem to end up angerin’ someone. From what I’ve been hearing jobs on the rim of the canyon can be dicey. ‘Parently coms and wave tronics don’t work as well out here.”

Reynolds leaned back onto the step ladder watching the little one wiggle in her sleep. Reminded him of the kittens they had kept on Shadow.

“That is a might worrying, but let’s hear out the details. If there is real trouble with the waves we got something better than that, a bonafide Reader who's been very helpful of late.” Zoe nodded. “S’all true enough. Just think we should be wary is all.”

They were done. This always seemed to be the ender of their meetings.

“We always are.” Reynolds began to ascend the ladder. “We’ll talk it over more and decide once we have more of the facts. We’ll meet with Don Shen at the celebrations tonight. Can’t go breaking promises now, can I.”

“No, Sir.” Zoe smiled as she wrapped Emma tighter in her knit. “Can’t be doing that.”

She watched her daughter for a while. She had her wild hair and soft skin, but she had Wash all over her. Her nose, the ways she laughed and smiled like the mischievous Sun Wukong, Monkey King. Wash had used to joke as they lay in the sheets that he’d been born smeared with engine grease and a long tale. Leastways that’s what his momma had told him. Swapping stories over pillows.

Since the day she met him his eyes had laughed at her in the most loving way and when he - the day he died that light was gone. And then amongst fear and rage, Emma was born. When she held that baby girl, knowing damn well alliance would be there for her in seconds and the world was going dark, she looked into their baby girl’s eyes and smiled. There it was again, her blessing from the Monkey King. After the crew was told that she was pregnant they had insisted she kept her and Wash’s bunk.

One day when she was on bedrest Jayne had come back from a job with a rickety old swinger made of real wood. It was rough and burned to be he had cast his eyes down and said, “Gonna fix it up. Baby deserves to rest somewhere sided these lā shǐ excuses for beds.”

He had sat at the weight bench for weeks sanding down the thing and carving in symbols of good luck and prayers for sleep that, hell, she had honestly thought he was too stupid to know. When he presented it to her she had almost cried, almost, and he had gone off saying there was a damn twig in his eye.

Zoe smiled as she ran her hands over the soft edges and curves of the crib. Happy memories, dubious futures. She dressed slowly in her good shirt and dark brown leather, smoothing out the creases. She pulled up her hair and looked into her own eyes in her fragmented mirror. Her eyes were centuries past what she had once seen. Emma began to cry. “S’okay, monkey. Momma’s here.” She picked up Emma and swayed gently. “We’re gonna go see some pretty things tonight.”

✥

Kaylee liked parties. She liked festivals and shindigs, even if they got a bit rowdy, it was nice to get out of the grease for a few hours and be just as shiny as the next girl. In her bunk, she twirled to her music and looked through her threads.

“You know everything that’s in there, yet every time we go out you still look through,” Simon mumbled, shifting in their bunk to watch the mechanic dance in circles to the fiddles looping through her crackling speakers.

“You never know, somethin’ might just magically show up.” She giggled. “Plus, gotta asses every situation.”

“You’re  _ tiānshàng _ in anything you wear.”

“If ‘Nara were here she’d know.” Kaylee looked at her threads again, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. Simon loved that face. She only did it when she was concentrating very hard, usually it was directed at faulty wire net or a particularly tricky engine rig.

“If Inara were here could she do this?” Simon asked, pulling her down into the sheets with him once more.

“Well, yes, she could, but there’d probably be tea served first.” She groaned into him as the doctor’s hands wandered.

“Oh, I’ll get you for that.”

Kaylee’s laughter echoed through the quarters and into the catwalks above.

✥

River sat on the bridge was making arrangements in a flowing red silk dress and her good boots. Her hair was pulled and twirled with old Ivory chopsticks, a present from Kaylee, even her eyes were lined with kohl. She checked and double checked statistics, routes, and capacity. The thrusters were talking back to her, but she gave them a good talking too. They were stubborn and always seemed to need that extra push in the right direction. She had nicknamed them Jayne. She could sense when Mal slowly walked onto the bridge, standing in the doorway. Mal liked seeing her in her natural environment.

“All dolled up like that just to run analysis? You're makin’ me feel underdressed.”

She smiled at the screens in front of her and swiped away the coordinates, but didn’t look up.

“I’m no ‘Nara.” It surprised him, but then again she always seemed to read him faster than anyone else. 

“Don’t have to be Albatross, just gotta be you.”

They appraised each other for a moment.

“You want to brief me on the plan?”

“You already know what we’re ponderin’ on.” She looked to the Captain. He liked to pretend he didn’t care about silly dances but he had washed behind the ears and everything. He smelled of strong coffee and soap. It was different, but it was still him. Familiar and warm.

“Talkings the most ancient form of storytelling.”  He smiled and sat himself across from her.

“We’re meetin’ with Don Shen during the festivities. He’s wanting on givin’ us ‘nother job, bit more complicated than the last but pays just fine.”

“Worried the fruit’s gonna sour?”

“Just a mite.”

“Want me to keep an open mind,” She nodded brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. “Be the all-seeing eye.”

“You two ready?” Kaylee called to the bridge.

“Reporting for duty!” River called back jumping up from the pilot’s chair. Her chair. She looked into her captain’s face. He was relaxed on the outside but roiled on the in. Full of the usual worries for the crew and hoping the trouble wouldn’t be too bad. “All face the music some time or other. Isn’t always a bad thing.”


	2. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew of Serenity join a festival and lose something significant...

 

 

_Xīn Xiágǔ_

Deep, rhythmic music slipped through the streets and moved the dust under the feet of hundreds. Life on the outer moons could be sparse and hard. Water was scarce and protein packets could be far and in between, but hard life meant enjoyment was in full. The fairy lanterns were strung from building to building in flaming red and gold, each made of thin paper. River explained they were meant to fall apart the second the rain started. Food fried in deep vats of oil and dough, coated in cane powder filled shop windows. The company wound through Xīn Xiágǔ like a great labyrinth. On corners, they bought drink and sweet buns full of roasted meat before they stumbled into the town square. It was throbbing with life and dance. Hundreds of bare feet slapped the earth and long skirts swirled dust hurricanes up around the cleared ground. Couples laughed and spilled beer knowing there were barrels more to come before the sun came up again. In the center of the mess was _Xīn Xiágǔ’s_ largest well. It was adorned with paper flowers, pictures, and prayers as an altar to the water. Almost immediately Kaylee swept Simon to the floor, kicking off her boots and pulling him awkwardly to the eye of the tornado. He had learned quickly that with Kaylee you didn’t need to know the steps, you just needed to smile and follow her lead.

Even Zoe began to shuffle to the beat, bouncing a shrieking Emma at her hip. Jayne vanished and reappeared with a strange woman in little attire and three more drinks added to his rising count. River felt the pull of each heartbeat and the intoxicating drag of each mind dizzy with drink. She closed her eyes and rocked on the balls of her feet, her mind spinning. Lust and life so raw and thick. She felt her blood course faster and hotter. The pairs around her made something deep inside of her twist in a way she had not felt in over a sun cycle. A calloused hand anchored her.

“Hold onto your thoughts, we still have to deal before we can cut strings.” Captain’s voice pulled her back into her body and she remembered her mind.“Clouds are rolling. He’ll be here soon.”

Bathed in red and orange light, musicians stomped a heavy beat along to fast-paced music. People laughed and relaxed, but Mal felt only tension building in his shoulders. Meetings made him titchy and the energy of waiting, waiting for the storm to break only set him more on edge.

“He’s here.” Zoe nodded, as a small group of men settled at one of the open shops, dressed in dark blue.

Pushing to the edge of the crowd, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River met with the hulking Don Shen and four of his men, leaving Emma with Simon and Kaylee in the middle of the festivities. Shen was intimidating yet welcoming to the ragtag crew as they sat at a noodle bar conferencing over steaming bowls of ramen and protein packs. The chairs he sat on creaked under his large form, as he leaned in to shake Mal and Zoe’s hands. Draped in silks of intricate design, his bald head shining in the lights, a hand stroking at his long beard, Don Shen looked regal in deep blue, set apart from the bust covered crows of Xīn Xiágǔ’s populace.

“It is really quite simple,” Don Shen assured them. “I told you it was a scarp job but that might have been a might misleading. We have been experiencing a slight uptake in crime on our little moon. Last few weeks boats have been disappearing from our yard and all that’s left is scrap and wires.”

Zoe shifted and looked toward Mal, but he didn’t flinch. Cool and collected he nodded his head as if he had been expecting some misdirect of the time. It wasn’t the most surprising change of pace.

“You want us to find the ships? We ain’t exactly-”

“I know - I know, Captain. You’re no investigator or hunter.” His laugh came deep within his belly. “But you move cargo and you and yours are more trained to retrieve cargo than my motley crew. You’re worth the extra pay for a job done well.”

“I ’preciate you knowing our worth,” Mal replied calmly. He respected the man’s attitude and ability to not shy from the topic of payment or haggle for their worth. Next to him, Zoe straightened further and Jayne shifted, mind drifting to the warm nights he could acquire with another payday. Mal knew River was listening and spoke readily, hoping she could pull the answers from Don Shen that he was holding back. “I’m just ponderin’ on why you would deal with us over the Alliance. Xīn Xiágǔ is registered provenance and they would be more suited to replace the taken shuttles.”

Don Shen nodded and thought before his reply, taking a moment to slowly enjoy a bite of his meal.

“You changed a lot the year you sent out with that wave, Reynolds.” He replied quietly. “Mr. Universe was respected. His words...your information, was not taken lightly. I will accept the Alliance’s support when my people need it, but the order is shifting and I don’t want them on my rock watching my every move. I want you.”

Thunder cracked through the air and the town square erupted in cheers. Behind Mal, River tilted her head and looked deeper at Shen. His words rang true but his mind buzzed. Not a pretty figure of speech, literally his mind buzzed like a humming of bees, and her mind was invaded. A headache grew in her temple and she stepped back from the bar.

“Missing ships ain’t much of a lead,” Zoe stated.

“Scraps have been cropping on re-sell markets. I’m losing money to these - these vultures.”

“You have an idea where they’re operating from?”

“The ridge.” River answered before Don Shen had opened his mouth. The answer came through gritted teeth. Her head was throbbing. Zoe frowned at her but refocused on Don Shen.

“Ah, yes, you’re … pilot, is correct.” Shen nodded, unsurprised by her knowledge. “There are some old composite buildings on the outskirts of the ridge, where the Canyon begins. No one goes out there because most can’t stand working in that sand and heat. Honestly, it’s a perfect place for those outside even our loose-lawed land to operate.”

“Do you have the coordinates?” River asked, still trying to shake the buzzing from her mind, but it only intensified. Don Shen nodded and one of his men stepped forward handing her a small screen that blinked green and red in her hands. She looked to Zoe and Mal.

“Hard place to reach.” River handed back the locator to Shen’s man. She looked to Zoe trying to convey her trepidation.

“We don’t know their number or their ability,” Zoe said quietly to Mal. “No way this would shape up and run smooth for us.”

Another rumble of thunder echoed through the town and the music behind them increased. Zoe felt the storm clouds coming as the tension in the air rose. It made her jumpy. Next to her, Jayne shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it wasn’t shaping to the favor of stacks of money. He got the feeling he wasn’t going to like what the Captain said next.

“Well,” Mal turned back to Don Shen. “Though I ‘preciate the work and hope you’ll keep us in mind, I think we’ll be off planet by tomorrow. I don’t want to risk more trouble than good on an Alliance planet. Hope you can understand.”

Don Shen nodded, smiling wearily.

“I understand your mind, Reynolds. Shame, but I understand it.” He slowly stood, his men shifting to stand around him. His stance was strong with an air of defiance and River’s head throbbed again. “Enjoy our festivities and the rain shall soon bless our ground. Safe travels, Reynolds.”

He disappeared into the streets. Mal and Jayne stood, and they moved from the small shop back to the square’s center. River felt her head calm as the vibrating seeped from her mind and she took in a deep breath of air. Tilting her head up she smiled.

“What are you so happy about?” Jayne grumbled, pushing past her.

“It’s time.” She grinned and with her words heavy drops of water began to fall from the sky.

Though the streets had been bustling with people, as the rain began to fall people now crowded into every crevice of the street, looking up into the sky, laughing and singing as the storm started to rage in full. The music grew louder and the dancing increased furiously, now pounding the beat into the loosened earth.

Simon and Kaylee danced through the crowd, returning the laughing Emma to  Zoe, who joined them as she bounced Emma on her hip and swirled into the blur of people. Jayne pushed passed River and Mal with a grunt and faded back into the mass of people, the woman he would know for a night stuck on his arm.

On the edge of the crowd, River and Mal stood on for a moment, unsure what to do. They had been to dances over the last four years since Miranda, but it hadn't ever felt like much but business or drinking. She had danced with others and done more with others (after consultation with a slightly amused Inara before she left), she was two in twenty years and no longer a child. The crew was more aware of it than she was often, their minds flicking through memories of her as the young witch drenched in blood. For her, however, it was still a far distant memory almost of another person.  Malcolm Reynold’s on the other hand, danced few and far between since two years before when Inara and he had not only fulfilled a longstanding bet between Kaylee and Zoe in their wild and obvious romance; but destroyed it within nearly a year of its beginning.

“Neither of them knows how to sacrifice ground,” Zoe had said to River as they had watched Inara’s shuttle leave the ship for the last time on the edge of Osiris. Since then, Mal hand joined River as one of the two always on the outside. Even when she found a partner and joined the night, he had stayed on the edges, drinking and watching his crew be merry.

They had never danced. Some unspoken rule she hadn’t remembered agreeing to. And tonight of all nights, she wanted to dance.

So she looked to the captain and smiled, extending a hand.

“Like to dance?”

Halfway through drinking, he paused, looking to her in mild shock and confusion. For some reason, the worlds _“Special Hell”_ floated through his mind. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Can’t kill me.” He grumbled, setting down his glass on a nearby table. Awkwardly he held her in the proper position. She laughed lightly and took his hand in a strong grip before throwing them both into the crowd. The lights danced and once more thunder rolled across the sky as the rain poured harder and the crowds cheered. The lights blazed as their coverings melted away and the rain sparkled.

Mal couldn’t help but smile as he watched the face of his pilot light up, glowing in the light, hair and clothes soaking through with rain. His own clothes stuck to his skin, and hair plastered to his face but he didn’t let go of her hands, instead, he swung River up in a twirl, her laugh surrounding him.  The dance floor turned into a mudslide, but no one seemed to mind, rather the dancing a challenge, everyone staining themselves to beat the rain at its game. Songs bled into each other until finally, River lead him to the side of the floor to sit heavily in waiting chairs, panting.

“Thank you, kind sir.” She said, mocking a form of propriety she had once been taught.

“Well, I heard it rude to refuse a lady.” He replied. They were quiet again, but this time comfortable with the rush of adrenaline and joy left from the crowd. She felt her bones warm in a way and she looked through the crowd to see her crew, her family, still enjoying the rain, Emma and Zoe laughing and chattering, Simon and Kaylee embracing. She looked back to her captain, Mal. His shirt now thin, stuck to him, eyes piercing her and she felt open. She leaned forward over the table and held his eyes, tilting her head. She usually refrained from reading them unless they were being too loud or it was absolutely necessary, but at this moment she couldn’t hold back. The warm feeling spread from her to him and it seemed the words _special hell_ had been overruled by a long pushed away thought…

Mal couldn’t help but lean forward as well. He didn’t know if it was the drink, the energy of the crowd, or her eyes pulling him in. Her eyes darted between him and his lips, closer now they naturally should be -

“Hey, you two!” They jumped and quickly straightened themselves as Zoe, Emma, Kaylee, and Simon returned to them. “We saw you dancing and then you were gone!” Kaylee exclaimed.

“Needed to catch breath.” River replied simply, returning to her own mind, reserving herself.

“You four seemed to be havin’ a right good time.” Mal stood, patting Kaylee on the head as she giggled.

“We were indeed, but it’s getting late,” Zoe nodded, pointedly looking at the babbling Emma.

“Rain!” She squealed happily.

“Yes, darlin’ lot of rain.”

River stood and looked around.

“Should find Jayne. Get back to the rig before it drowns.”

“I doubt we’ll see him until tomorrow morning.” Simon snorted. He wasn't wrong, Jayne had a habit of disappearing for nights at a time in a town-side bed. Seeing as his was the smallest cot and cabin, it was unsurprising he occasionally craved a room that didn’t smell of sweat and gun grease.

“We have to pick up some last things tomorrow anyway, might as well grab him on the way out.” Mal nodded, turning from the dance to the dimmed streets. They followed him through the winding town, streets now flowing like streams, back to the rig and hopped in, River at the helm and Mal in his usual place at her right. With one last look at each other, the fired up the slightly waterlogged carrier and began their way back to the ship. As the road, River couldn’t help but feel as if something was off, twisted the wrong way, out of place.

It wasn’t until two hours later, standing at the edge of the canyon where only the landing tracks lay did River realize her mistake.

Serenity was gone, what little left as evidence of her presence slowly being washed away by the torrential storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all this is my first time publishing fic on...anywhere really. Would love to hear thoughts and opinions!  
> Merry December and such,  
> LotM


End file.
